第七十三回

第七十三回 痴丫头误拾绣春囊 懦小姐不问累金凤

话说那赵姨娘和贾政说话，忽听外面一声响，不知何物。忙问时，原来是外间窗屉不曾扣好，塌了屈戌了吊[1]下来。赵姨娘骂了丫头几句，自己带领丫鬟上好，方进来打发贾政安歇。不在话下。

却说怡红院中宝玉正才睡下，丫鬟们正欲各散安歇，忽听有人击院门。老婆子开了门〔一〕，见是赵姨娘房内的丫鬟名唤小鹊的。问他什么事，小鹊不答，直往房内来找宝玉。只见宝玉才睡下，晴雯等犹在床边坐着，大家顽笑，见他来了，都问：“什么事，这时候又跑了来作什么？”小鹊笑向宝玉道：“我来告诉你一个信儿。方才我们奶奶这般如此在老爷前说了你。仔细明儿老爷问你话。”说着回身就去了。袭人命留他吃茶，因怕关门，遂一直去了。

这里宝玉听了，便如孙大圣听见了紧箍咒一般，登时四肢五内一齐皆不自在起来。想来想去〔二〕，别无他法，且理熟了书〔三〕预备明儿盘考。口内不舛错，便有他事，也可搪塞一半。想罢，忙披衣起来要读书。心中又自后悔，这些日子只说不提了，偏又丢生，早知该天天好歹温习些的。

如今打算打算，肚子内现可背诵的，不过只有“学”“庸”“二论”[5]是带注背得出的。至上本《孟子》，就有一半是夹生的，若凭空提一句，断不能接背的；至“下孟”，就有一大半忘〔四〕了。算起“五经”[7]来，因近来作诗，常把《诗经》读些，虽不甚精阐，还可塞责。别的虽不记得，素日贾政也幸未吩咐过读的，纵不知，也还不妨。

至于古文，还是那几年所读过的几篇，连“左传”“国策”“公羊”“谷梁”[8]汉唐等文，不过几十篇，这几年竟未曾温得半篇片语，虽闲时也曾遍阅，不过一时之兴，随看随忘，未下苦工夫，如何记得。这是断难塞责的。

更有时文八股一道，因平素深恶此道，原非圣贤之制撰，焉能阐发圣贤之微奥，不过作后人饵名钓禄之阶。虽贾政当日起身时选了百十篇命他读的，不过偶因见其中或一二股内，或承起之中，有作的或精致、或流荡、或游戏、或悲感，稍能动性者，偶一读之，不过供一时之兴趣，究竟何曾成篇潜心玩索。

如今若温习这个，又恐明日盘诘那个；若温习那个，又恐盘驳这个。况一夜之功，亦不能全然温习。因此越添了焦躁。自己读书不知紧要，却带累着一房丫鬟们皆不能睡。袭人麝月晴雯等几个大的是不用说，在旁剪烛斟茶；那些小的，都困眼朦胧，前仰后合起来。晴雯因骂道：“什么蹄子们，一个个黑日白夜挺尸挺不够，偶然一次睡迟了些，就装出这腔调来了。再这样，我拿针戳你们〔五〕两下子！”

话犹未了，只听外间咕咚一声，急忙看时，原来是一个小丫头子坐着打盹，一头撞到壁上了，从梦中惊醒，恰正是晴雯说这话之时，他怔怔的只当是晴雯打了他一下，遂哭央说：“好姐姐，我再不敢了。”众人都发起笑来。

宝玉忙劝道：“饶他去罢，原该叫他们都睡去才是。你们也该替换着睡去。”袭人忙道：“小祖宗，你只顾你的罢。统共这一夜的工夫，你把心暂且用在这几本书上，等过了这一关，由你再张罗别的去，也不算误了什么。”宝玉听他说的恳切，只得又读。读了没有几句，麝月又斟了一杯茶来润舌，宝玉接茶吃了。因见麝月只穿着短袄，解了裙子，宝玉道：“夜静了，冷，到底穿一件大衣裳才是。”麝月笑指着书道：“你暂且把我们忘了，把心且略对着他些罢。”

话犹未了，只听金星玻璃从后房门跑进来，口内喊说：“不好了，一个人从墙上跳下来了！”众人听说，忙问在那里，即喝起人来，各处寻找。晴雯因见宝玉读书苦恼，劳费一夜神思，明日也未必妥当，心下正〔六〕要替宝玉想出一个主意来脱此难，正好忽逢此一惊，即便生计，向宝玉道：“趁这个机会快装病，只说唬着了。”

此话〔七〕正中宝玉心怀，因而遂传起上夜人等来，打着灯笼，各处搜寻，并无踪迹，都说：“小姑娘们想是睡花了眼出去，风摇的树枝儿，错认作人了。”晴雯便道：“别放诌屁！你们查的不严，怕担不是，还拿这话来支吾。才刚并不是一个人见的，宝玉和我们出去有事，大家亲见的。如今宝玉唬的颜色都变了，满身发热，我如今还要上房里取安魂丸药去。太太问起来，是要回明白的，难道依你说就罢了不成。”

众人听了，吓的不敢则声，只得又各处去找〔八〕。晴雯和玻璃二人果出去要药，故意闹的众人皆知宝玉吓着了。王夫人听了，忙命人来看视给药，又吩咐各上夜人仔细搜查，又一面叫查二门外邻园墙上夜的小厮们。于是园内灯笼火把，直闹了一夜。至五更天，就传管家男女，命仔细查一查，拷问内外上夜男女等人。

贾母闻知宝玉被吓，细问原由，不敢再隐，只得回明。贾母道：“我料到必有此事。如今各处上夜都不小心，还是小事，只怕他们就是贼也未可知。”当下邢夫人并尤氏等都过来请安，凤姐、李纨及姊妹等皆陪侍，听贾母如此说，都默无所答。独探春出位笑道：“近因凤姐姐身子不好，几日园内的人比先放肆了许多。先前不过是大家偷着一时半刻，或夜里坐更时，三四个人聚在一处，或掷骰或斗牌，小小的顽意，不过为熬困。近来渐次放诞，竟开了赌局，甚至有头家局主，或三十吊五十吊三百吊的大输赢。半月前竟有争斗相打之事。”贾母听了，忙说：“你既知道，为何不早回我们来？”探春道：“我因想着太太事多，且连日不自在，所以没回。只告诉了大嫂子和管事的人们，戒饬过几次，近日好些。”

贾母忙道：“你姑娘家，如何知道这里头的利害。你自为耍钱常事，不过怕起争端。殊不知夜间既耍钱，就保不住不吃酒；既吃酒，就免不得门户任意开锁。或买东西，寻张觅李〔九〕，其中夜静人稀，趋便藏贼引奸〔一○〕引盗，何等事作不出来。况且园内的姊妹们起居所伴者皆系丫头媳妇们，贤愚混杂，贼盗事小，再有别事，倘略沾带些，关系不小。这事岂可轻恕。”探春听说，便默然归坐。

凤姐虽未大愈，精神固比素常〔一一〕稍减，今见贾母如此说，便忙道：“偏生我又病了。”遂回头命人速传林之孝家的等总理家事四个媳妇到来，当着贾母申饬了一顿。贾母命即刻查了头家赌家来，有人出首者赏，隐情不告者罚。

林之孝家的等见贾母动怒〔一二〕，谁敢狥私，忙至园内传齐人，一一盘查。虽不免大家赖一回，终不免水落石出。查得大头家三人，小头家八人，聚赌者通共二十多人，都带来见贾母，跪在院内磕响头求饶。贾母先问大头家名姓和钱之多少。原来这三个大头家，一个就是林之孝的两姨亲家，一个就是园内厨房内柳家媳妇之妹，一个就是迎春之乳母。这是三个为首的，馀者不能多记。

贾母便命将骰子牌一并烧毁，所有的钱入官分散与众人，将为首者每人打四十大板，撵出，总不许再入；从者每人打二十大板，革去三月月钱，拨入圊厕行[17]内。又将林之孝家的申饬了一番。林之孝家的见他的亲戚又与他打嘴，自己也觉没趣。迎春在坐，也觉没意思。

黛玉、宝钗、探春等见迎春的乳母如此，也是物伤其类的意思，遂都起身笑向贾母讨情说：“这个妈妈素日原不顽的，不知怎么也偶然高兴。求看二姐姐面上，饶他这次罢。”贾母道：“你们不知。大约这些奶子们，一个个仗着奶过哥儿姐儿，原比别人有些体面，他们就生事，比别人更可恶，专管调唆主子护短偏向。我都是经过的。况且要拿一个作法，恰好果然就遇见了一个。你们别管，我自有道理。”宝钗等听说，只得罢了。

一时贾母歇晌，大家散出，都知贾母今日生气，皆不敢各散回家，只得在此暂候。尤氏便往凤姐儿处来闲话了一回，因他也不自在，只得往园内寻众姑嫂闲谈。邢夫人在王夫人处坐了一回，也就往园内散散心来。刚至园门前，只见贾母房内的小丫头子名唤傻大姐的笑嘻嘻走来，手内拿着个花红柳绿的东西，低头一壁瞧着，一壁只管走，不防迎头撞见邢夫人，抬头看见，方才站住。邢夫人因说：“这痴丫头，又得了个什么狗不识儿这么欢喜？拿来我瞧瞧。”

原来这傻大姐年方十四五岁，是新挑上来的与贾母这边提水桶扫院子专作粗活的一个丫头。只因他生得体肥面阔，两只大脚，作粗活简捷爽利，且心性愚顽，一无知识，行事出言，常在规矩之外。贾母因喜欢他爽利便捷，又喜他出言可以发笑，便起名为“呆大姐”，常闷来便引他取笑一回，毫无避忌，因此又叫他作“痴丫头”。他纵有失礼之处，见贾母喜欢他，众人也就不去苛责。

这丫头也得了这个力，若贾母不唤他时，便入园内来顽耍。今日正在园内掏促织，忽在山石背后得了一个五彩绣香囊，其华丽精致，固是可爱，但上面绣的并非花鸟等物，一面却是两个人赤条条的盘踞相抱，一面是几个字。这痴丫头原不认得是春意，便心下盘算：“敢是两个妖精打架？不然必是两口子相打。”左右猜解不来，正要拿去与贾母看，是以笑嘻嘻的一壁看，一壁走，忽见了邢夫人如此说，便笑道：“太太真个说的巧，真个是狗不识呢。太太请瞧一瞧。”说着，便送过去。

邢夫人接来一看，吓得连忙死紧攥住，忙问：“你是那里得的？”傻大姐道：“我掏促织儿在山石上捡的。”邢夫人道：“快休告诉一人。这不是好东西，连你也要打死。皆因你素日是傻子，以后再别提起了。”这傻大姐听了，反吓的黄了脸，说：“再不敢了。”磕了个头，呆呆而去。邢夫人回头看时，都是些女孩儿，不便递与，自己便塞在袖内，心内十分罕异，揣摩此物从何而至，且不形于声色，且来至迎春室中。

迎春正因他乳母获罪，自觉无趣，心中不自在，忽报母亲来了，遂接入内室。奉茶毕，邢夫人因说道：“你这么大了，你那奶妈子行此事，你也不说说他。如今别人都好好的，偏咱们的人做出这事来，什么意思。”迎春低着头弄衣带，半晌答道：“我说他两次，他不听也无法。况且他是妈妈，只有他说我的，没有我说他的。”邢夫人道：“胡说！你不好了他原该说，如今他犯了法，你就该拿出小姐的身分来。他敢不从，你就回我去才是。如今直等外人共知，是什么意思。再者，只他去〔一三〕放头儿[19]，还恐怕他巧言花语的和你借贷些簪环衣履作本钱，你这心活面软，未必不周接他些。若被他骗去，我是一个钱没有的，看你明日怎么过节。”迎春不语，只低头弄衣带。

邢夫人见他这般，因冷笑道：“总是你那〔一四〕好哥哥好嫂子，一对儿赫赫扬扬，琏二爷凤奶奶，两口子遮天盖日，百事周到，竟通共这一个妹子，全不在意。但凡是我身上掉下来的，又有一话说——只好凭他们罢了。况且你又不是我养的，你虽然不是同他一娘所生，到底是同出一父，也该彼此瞻顾些，也免别人笑话。我想，天下的事也难较定，你是大老爷跟前人养的，这里探丫头也是二老爷跟前人养的，出身一样。如今你娘死了，从前看来，你两个的娘，只有你娘比如今赵姨娘强十倍的。你该比探丫头强才是，怎么反不及他一半！谁知竟不然。这可不是异事。倒是我一生无儿无女的，一生干净，也不能惹人笑话。”旁边伺候的媳妇们便趁机道：“我们的姑娘老实仁德，那里像他们三姑娘伶牙俐齿，会要姊妹们的强。他们明知姐姐这样，他竟不顾恤一点儿。”邢夫人道：“连他哥哥嫂子还如是，别人又作什么呢。”

一言未了，人回：“琏二奶奶来了。”邢夫人听了，冷笑两声，命人出去说：“请他自去养病，我这里不用他伺候。”接着又有探事的小丫头来报说：“老太太醒了。”邢夫人方起身前边来。迎春送至院外方回。

绣桔因说道：“如何，前儿我回姑娘，那一个攒珠累丝金凤[21]竟不知那里去了。回了姑娘，姑娘竟不问一声儿。我说必是老奶奶拿去典了银子放头儿的，姑娘不信，只说司棋收着呢。问司棋，司棋虽病着，心里却明白。我去问他，他说没有收起来，还在书架上匣内暂放着，预备八月十五日恐怕要戴呢。姑娘就该问老奶奶一声，只是脸软怕人恼。如今竟怕无着落，明儿要都戴时，独咱们不戴，是何意思呢。”

迎春道：“何用问，自然是他拿去暂时借一肩[22]了。我只说他悄悄的拿了出去，不过一时半晌，仍旧悄悄的送来就完了，谁知他就〔一五〕忘了。今日偏又闹出来，问他想也无益。”绣桔道：“何曾是忘记！他是试准了姑娘的性格，所以才这样。如今我有个主意：我竟走到二奶奶房里，将此事回了他，或他着人去要，或他省事拿几吊钱来替他赔补。如何？”迎春忙道：“罢，罢，罢，省些事罢。宁可没有了，又何必生事。”绣桔道：“姑娘怎么这样软弱。都要省起事来，将来连姑娘还骗了去呢。我竟去的是。”说着便走。迎春便不言语，只好由他。

谁知迎春乳母之媳王住儿媳妇正因他婆婆得了罪，来求迎春去讨情，听他们正说金凤一事，且不进去。也因素日迎春懦弱，他们都不放在心上。如今见绣桔立意去回凤姐，估着这事脱不去的，且又有求迎春之事，只得进来，陪笑先向绣桔说：“姑娘，你别去生事。姑娘的金丝凤，原是我们老奶奶老糊涂了，输了几个钱，没的捞梢〔一六〕[25]，所以暂借了去。原说一日半晌就赎的，因总未捞过本儿来，就迟住了。可巧今儿又不知是谁走了风声，弄出事来。虽然这样，到底主子的东西，我们不敢迟误下，终久是要赎的。如今还要求姑娘看从小儿吃奶的情常，往老太太那边去讨个情面，救出他老人家来才好。”迎春先便说道：“好嫂子，你趁早儿打了这妄想，要等我去说情儿，等到明年也不中用的。方才连宝姐姐林妹妹大伙儿说情，老太太还不依，何况是我一个人。我自己愧还愧不来，反去讨臊去。”绣桔便说：“赎金凤是一件事，说情是一件事，别绞在一处说。难道姑娘不去说情，你就不赎了不成？嫂子且取了金凤来再说。”

王住儿家的听见迎春如此拒绝他，绣桔的话又锋利无可回答，一时脸上过不去，也明欺迎春素日好性儿，乃向绣桔发话道：“姑娘，你别太仗势了。你满家子算一算，谁的妈妈奶子不仗着主子哥儿姐儿多得些益，偏咱们就这样丁是丁卯是卯的，只许你们偷偷摸摸的哄骗了去。自从邢姑娘来了，太太吩咐一个月俭省出一两银子来与舅太太去，这里饶[26]添了邢姑娘的使费，反少了一两银子。常时短了这个，少了那个，那不是我们供给？谁又要去？不过大家将就些罢了。算到今日，少说些也有三十两了。我们这一向的钱，岂不白填了限[27]呢。”绣桔不待说完，便啐了一口，道：“作什么你白填了三十两，我且和你算算帐，姑娘要了些什么东西？”迎春听见这媳妇发邢夫人之私意，忙止道：“罢，罢，罢。你不能拿了金凤来，不必牵三扯四乱嚷。我也不要那凤了。便是太太们问时，我只说丢了，也妨碍不着什么的，你出去歇息歇息倒好。”一面叫绣桔倒茶来。

绣桔又气又急，因说道：“姑娘虽不怕，我们是作什么的，把姑娘的东西丢了。他倒赖说姑娘使了他们的钱，这如今竟要准折起来。倘或太太问姑娘为什么使了这些钱，敢是我们就中取势了？这还了得！”一行说，一行就哭了。司棋听不过，只得勉强过来，帮着绣桔问着那媳妇。迎春劝止不住，自拿了一本《太上感应篇》[28]来看。

三人正没开交，可巧宝钗、黛玉、宝琴、探春等因恐迎春今日不自在，都约来安慰他。走至院中，听得两三个人较口。探春从纱窗内一看，只见迎春倚在床上看书，若有不闻之状。探春也笑了。小丫鬟们忙打起帘子，报道：“姑娘们来了。”迎春方放下书起身。那媳妇见有人来，且又有探春在内，不劝而自止了，遂趁便要去。

探春坐下，便问：“才刚谁在这里说话？倒像拌嘴似的。”迎春笑道：“没有说什么，左不过是他们小题大作罢了。何必问他。”探春笑道：“我才听见什么‘金凤’，又是什么‘没有钱只和我们奴才要’，谁和奴才要钱了？难道姐姐和奴才要钱了不成？难道姐姐不是和我们一样有月钱的，一样有用度不成？”司棋绣桔道：“姑娘说的是了。姑娘们都是一样的，那一位姑娘的钱不是由着奶奶妈妈们使，连我们也不知道怎样是算帐，不过要东西只说得一声儿。如今他偏要说姑娘使过了头儿，他赔出许多来了。究竟姑娘何曾和他要什么了。”

探春笑道：“姐姐既没有和他要，必定是我们或者和他们要了不成！你叫他进来，我倒要问问他。”迎春笑道：“这话又可笑。你们又无沾碍，何得带累于他。”探春笑道：“这倒不然。我和姐姐一样，姐姐的事和我的也是一般，他说姐姐就是说我。我那边的人有怨我的，姐姐〔一七〕听见也即同怨姐姐是一理。咱们是主子，自然不理论那些钱财小事，只知想起什么要什么，也是有的事。但不知金累丝凤因何又夹在里头？”那王住儿媳妇生恐绣桔等告出他来，遂忙进来用话掩饰。探春深知其意，因笑道：“你们所以糊涂。如今你奶奶已得了不是，趁此求求二奶奶，把方才的钱尚未散人的拿出些来赎取了就完了。比不得没闹出来，大家都藏着留脸面；如今既是没了脸，趁此时纵有十个罪，也只一人受罚，没有砍两颗头的理。你依我，竟是和二奶奶说去。在这里大声小气，如何使得。”

这媳妇被探春说出真病，也无可赖了，只不敢往凤姐处自首。探春笑道：“我不听见便罢，既听见，少不得替你们分解分解。”谁知探春早使个眼色与待书出去了。

这里正说话，忽见平儿进来。宝琴拍手笑说道：“三姐姐敢是有驱神召将的符术？”黛玉笑道：“这倒不是道家玄术，倒是用兵最精的，所谓‘守如处女，脱如狡兔’[30]，出其不备之妙策也。”二人取笑。宝钗便使眼色与二人，令其不可，遂以别话岔开。探春见平儿来了，遂问：“你奶奶可好些了？真是病糊涂了，事事都不在心上，叫我们受这样的委屈。”平儿忙道：“姑娘怎么委屈？谁敢给姑娘气受，姑娘快吩咐我。”

当时住儿媳妇儿方慌了手脚，遂上来赶着平儿叫：“姑娘坐下，让我说原故请听。”平儿正色道：“姑娘这里说话，也有你我混插口的礼！你但凡知礼，只该在外头伺候。不叫你进不来的地方，几曾〔一八〕有外头的媳妇子们无故到姑娘们房里来的例。”绣桔道：“你不知我们这屋里是没礼的，谁爱来就来。”平儿道：“都是你们的不是。姑娘好性儿，你们就该打出去，然后再回太太去才是。”王住儿媳妇见平儿出了言，红了脸方退出去。

探春接着道：“我且告诉你，若是别人得罪了我，倒还罢了。如今那住儿媳妇和他婆婆仗着是妈妈，又瞅着二姐姐好性儿，如此这般私自拿了首饰去赌钱，而且还捏造假帐折算，威逼着还要去讨情，和这两个丫头在卧房里大嚷大叫，二姐姐竟不能辖治，所以我看不过，才请你来问一声：还是他原是天外的人，不知道理？还是谁主使他如此，先把二姐姐制伏，然后就要治我和四姑娘了？”平儿忙陪笑道：“姑娘怎么今日说这话出来？我们奶奶如何当得起！”

探春冷笑道〔一九〕：“俗语说的‘物伤其类’，‘齿竭唇亡’[33]，我自然有些惊心。”平儿问迎春道〔二〇〕：“若论此事，还不是大事，极好处置。但他现是姑娘的奶嫂，据姑娘怎么样为是？”当下迎春只和宝钗阅“感应篇”故事，究竟连探春之语亦不曾闻得，忽见平儿如此说，仍笑道：“问我，我也没什么法子。他们的不是，自作自受，我也不能讨情，我也不去苛责就是了。至于私自拿去的东西，送来我收下，不送来我也不要了。太太们要问，我可以隐瞒遮饰过去，是他的造化，若瞒不住，我也没法，没有个为他们反欺枉太太们的理，少不得直说。你们若说我好性儿，没个决断，竟有好主意可以八面周全，不使太太们生气，任凭你们处治，我总不知道。”

众人听了，都好笑起来。黛玉笑道：“真是‘虎狼屯于阶陛，尚谈因果’[35]。若使二姐姐是个男人，这一家上下若许人，又如何裁治他们。”迎春笑道：“正是。多少男人尚如此，何况我哉。”一语未了，只见又有一人进来。正不知道是那个，且听下回分解。

[1] 屈戌了吊——门窗上的环钮搭扣。

〔一〕 “门”字原无，从梦稿、蒙府、戚序本补。

〔二〕 “想来想去”，原无“想来”，从各本补。

〔三〕 “且理熟了书”，原有残缺，今从梦稿、俄藏、甲辰本增改。

[5] “学”、“庸”、“二论”——即《大学》、《中庸》和《论语》。因《论语》分上下两本，故称“二论”。

〔四〕 “忘”字原无，从戚序本补。

[7] 五经——《易》、《书》、《诗》、《礼》、《春秋》称为五经。

[8] 《左传》、《国策》、《公羊》、《谷梁》——《左传》亦称《春秋左氏传》，相传为春秋时左丘明所撰，是以《春秋》为纲依据各国史籍编写而成。《公羊》、《谷梁》亦称《春秋公羊传》、《春秋谷梁传》，相传为战国时公羊高、谷梁赤所撰，多用义理阐释《春秋》。《国策》即《战国策》，分别叙写战国时期各诸侯国的历史，多记述当时那些谋臣说客的论辩说辞。

〔五〕 “你们”，原无，从各本补。

〔六〕 “心下正”，原无，从各本补。

〔七〕 “此话”，原无，从蒙府本补。

〔八〕 “去找”，原无“去”字，从各本补。

〔九〕 “寻张觅李”，原作“寻张不见李”，“不”点改为“找”，“见”点去，作“寻张找李”。梦稿、戚序本均作“寻张不见李”。甲辰本无此句。“寻张不见李”欠通，“不见”似为抄写时误将“觅”字抄作二字，因酌改为“寻张觅李”。

〔一○〕 “藏贼引奸”，原“奸”为“贤”点改。各本均作“藏贼引盗”，但下面仍有“引盗”，重复。今从底本改文。

〔一一〕 “固比素常”，底本原作“固此常”，点改“固此”二字，旁添“因此比”三字。据俄藏本校改。

〔一二〕 “贾母动怒”，原“动怒”为旁添，“动怒”下有“跪在院内磕响头动怒”九字，系后文讹入，各本均作“贾母动怒”，从删。

[17] 圊（qīn青）厕行——打扫管理厕所的行当。圊：厕所。

〔一三〕 “只他去”，原无，从梦稿、蒙府、戚序本补。

[19] 放头儿——这里是聚赌、作头家的意思。聚赌抽头所得的钱叫头儿钱。

〔一四〕 “那”字原无，从梦稿、蒙府、戚序本补。

[21] 攒珠累丝金凤——以金丝穿聚珍珠堆叠连缀成凤形的发饰。

[22] 借一肩——挑担时让别人挑一会自己歇一会叫借力歇肩或借一肩，这里是借人之物典押得钱以应急用的意思。

〔一五〕 “他悄悄的拿了出去，不过一时半晌，仍旧悄悄的送来就完了，谁知他就”二十八字，原缺，各本均有，文字略异，此从蒙府、戚序本增补。

〔一六〕 “捞梢”，底本及馀各本均作“捞稍”，径改。

[25] 捞梢——赌博中称翻本为“捞梢”，即把输了的钱赢回来。

[26] 饶——此处意为“不但”。

[27] 填了限——贴补给不领情之人。

[28] 《太上感应篇》——书名，晋代葛洪（自号抱朴子）托名道家始祖太上老君之名所作，旨在劝善惩恶，宣扬因果报应。

〔一七〕 “姐姐的事和我的也是一般，他说姐姐就是说我。我那边的人有怨我的，姐姐”三十字，原无，各本均有，文字略异，此从梦稿本补。

[30] 守如处女，脱如狡兔——喻出其不意的举动。《孙子·九地》：“始如处女，敌人开户，后如脱兔，敌不及拒。”这是说作战时开始要像处女一样沉静，使敌人放松戒备，然后像脱兔一样迅捷，使敌人不及抗拒。

〔一八〕 “几曾”，原无，从梦稿本补。

〔一九〕 “姑娘怎么今日说这话出来，我们奶奶如何当得起。探春冷笑道”二十五字，原无，各本均有，文字略异，此从梦稿本补。

[33] 齿竭唇亡——亦作“唇亡齿寒”，语出《左传》僖公五年，比喻两者相互依存，利害关系十分密切。

〔二〇〕 “问迎春道”，原作“道问”（问又点去），今从各本补乙。

[35] 虎狼屯于阶陛，尚谈因果——屯：聚集；驻扎。阶陛：宫殿的台阶。此语原意在讽喻封建帝王佞信佛道以致祸国殃民。如南朝梁武帝萧衍，当叛将侯景的军队已打到京师围困台城，他还一心皈依佛教奢谈因果。见《南史·梁简文帝诸子建平王传》。这里是指对与己生死攸关的事，采取不闻不问的态度。

CHAPTER 73. A half-witted servant-girl picks up a highly embarrassing object And an easy-going young mistress refuses to inquire into a theft

As we were saying at the end of the last chapter, Aunt Zhao and Jia Zheng were interrupted in the midst of their discussion by a sudden crash. The maids, when questioned, said that it had been caused by an outer casement of one of the windows falling. It could not have been properly fastened and must have slipped its catch. After first roundly cursing them, Aunt Zhao went outside with them to supervise its replacement. When she came in again, she helped Jia Zheng to settle down for the night. And so we leave them.

Meanwhile, over at Green Delights, Bao-yu had just gone to bed. The maids were themselves on the point of doing so when a sudden knocking was heard at the courtyard gate. The old woman who opened it recognized the caller as a maid of Aunt Zhao’s called Magpie, and asked her what she wanted; but instead of answering, the girl pushed past her and rushed straight inside. She found Bao-yu already lying down, but engaged in bantering conversation with Skybright and a couple of other maids who were sitting on the edge of his bed.

‘What’s the matter?’ they asked when they saw who their visitor was. ‘What brings you out at this hour?’

‘I’ve come to warn you,’ said Magpie, addressing herself in an urgent whisper to Bao-yu. ‘I heard my mistress just now jabbering to Sir Zheng about something, and though I couldn’t make out what they were talking about, I heard him say “Bao-yu” a couple of times. I thought I’d better put you on your guard in case he asks to see you tomorrow about anything.’

She turned and hurried out again as soon as she had finished speaking. Aroma told someone to run after her and ask her to stay for a cup of tea, but she was afraid of being shut inside the Garden when they closed the gate, and insisted on going back immediately.

Bao-yu knew that in Aunt Zhao’s twisted imagination he was regarded as an enemy, and though he did not know what she had said, the mere fact that she had been talking about him was enough to make him feel uncomfortable all over, much as Monkey did when he heard Tripitaka reciting the spell for tightening the iron band round his head. After giving the matter some thought, he concluded that the only practical way in which he could prepare himself for the morrow would be by revising his texts. Should his father take it into his head to test him, he reasoned, then if only he could be word-perfect in his texts, it would not be so difficult to bluff his way through whatever else he might ask him. Having made the decision, he hurriedly threw a gown over his shoulders and prepared to begin some revision, bitterly regretting that Jia Zheng’s silence on the subject of lessons since his last return from duty had lulled him into a false sense of security.

‘I ought to have had more sense,’ he told himself. ‘One really ought to do a little bit every day, to keep in practice.’

He began to reckon up how much he could still recite from memory. He found that there was little more than The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean and the two halves of the Analects that he could be absolutely sure of. The first half of Mencius he knew reasonably well, but certainly not well enough to be able to carry on from any sentence given him at random. The second half was virtually terra incognita. Of the Five Classics he was fairly familiar with the Poetry Classic because he was frequently having to read bits of it in connection with his own versifying. Though far from word-perfect, he probably knew it well enough to scrape through a test. He could not remember any of the other classics at all; but fortunately his father had so far never asked him to study them, so probably it would not matter. When it came to Old Style Prose, the case was rather different. Over the past few years he had read extracts from the Zuo, Gong-yang and Gu-liang commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals and various Han and Tang pieces, but he had only dipped into them as the fancy took him; he had not done any serious work on them. There was certainly no question of his being able to remember them. There was even less likelihood of his being able to pass muster on the Examination Essay. He had always detested this style of writing in any case. The Sage himself didn’t write that way, he argued, so how could one hope to expound the inner meaning of his teachings through such a medium? It was no more than a device used by vulgar fortune-seekers for starting themselves off on the golden road to success. Before he left, Jia Zheng had selected a hundred of these essays for him to read; but Bao-yu had only glanced at them occasionally, reading a paragraph here and a paragraph there as some particularly felicitous expression or the extravagance, humour or melancholy of the writer happened to catch his attention. He had never settled down to the serious analytical examination of even a single essay.

He began to revise; but the trouble was that whatever he revised now, he was sure to be asked about something else next day, and the whole night would not be long enough to revise everything. It soon became apparent that all he was succeeding in doing was getting himself into an even worse state of nerves than he had been in to begin with and, while studying to no purpose himself, preventing a whole roomful of girls from sleeping as well.

Aroma and the other senior maids could at least occupy themselves by trimming his lamp, pouring him cups of tea and so forth; but the younger ones could neither go to bed nor find any employment to keep themselves awake, and sat about the place, drooping and nodding in various attitudes of fatigue. Skybright became indignant.

‘Lazy little wretches! You sleep all day as it is. Just for once in your lives you are asked to stay up late, and look at you! If you don’t liven yourselves up a bit, I shall come and stick pins in you all!’

As she said this, there was a loud bang from the outer room. It turned out to have been caused by a little maid who had dozed off while sitting on the kang and in doing so had bumped her head against the partition. Waking with a start just as Skybright was uttering this threat, she assumed that the bump on the head she had just received must have been dealt her by Skybright. To the great amusement of the other girls she began tearfully begging her for mercy.

‘Oh no! Please, Skybright! I promise I won’t do it again!’

‘Don’t punish her,’ Bao-yu called out. ‘You ought to allow those younger ones to go to bed. And you older ones too – you don’t all need to stay up. You should be taking it in turns to get some sleep.’

‘Little ancestor!’ said Aroma exasperatedly. ‘You get on with your work! Just for this one night try to concentrate all your energies on studying. Once you’ve got over this hurdle, you can make what other arrangements you like!’

She sounded so earnest that for the next few minutes Bao-yu did in fact concentrate on his revision. Musk handed him a cup of tea to moisten his lips with while he recited. In taking it from her he noticed that she had only a short tunic on over her pantaloons.

‘It gets very cold at this time of night,’ he said. ‘You really ought to put something else on.’

Musk smiled grimly and pointed at his book.

‘Just forget about me for a while, could you? Get your mind fastened on this!’

Hardly had she finished saying this than Parfumée – or Aventurin’ as Bao-yu now called her – came running in from outside in a panic.

‘Oh God! A man’s just jumped down from the wall!’

‘Where? Where?’ cried the others, and began shouting for the older servants to go and look.

To Skybright this scare came as a blessing in disguise. Observing what heavy weather Bao-yu was making of his revision and foreseeing that if he wore himself out by staying up all night he would be in no condition for facing his ordeal in the morning, she had been casting about desperately for some means of rescuing him from it altogether. This panic about an intruder gave her an idea.

‘Why don’t you take advantage of this to get off tomorrow?’ she asked him. ‘Tell them that the shock has made you ill.’

This was a suggestion after Bao-yu’s own heart. He had the watch called and ordered them to light their lanterns and make a thorough search. But no intruder could be found.

‘I expect one of you young ladies had to go out for something in the dark and being still half-asleep, took the bough of a tree moving in the wind for a man,’ they said.

‘Nonsense!’ said Skybright. ‘You only say that as an excuse, because you haven’t been keeping watch properly and you’re afraid of getting into trouble. It wasn’t only one of us who saw him; a whole lot of us did; and Bao-yu was with us. The shock of it has made him quite ill. His face looks terrible and he’s burning hot all over. I shall be going over to Her Ladyship’s presently to get him a sedative. She’s sure to ask me what has upset him. What am I supposed to tell her? That he took fright from looking at a tree?’

This seemed to scare the women, for they made no reply but hurried off again to continue their search. Meanwhile Skybright and Aventurin went off to ask for some pills, deliberately making as big a fuss as possible to make sure that everyone knew that Bao-yu had been taken ill as a result of seeing something alarming in the Garden. Lady Wang sent someone to fetch the medicine for the two girls and gave orders for the members of the watch to make a full investigation. She was particularly anxious that the pages from the inner gate who did night duty at the point nearest to the Garden should be subjected to careful questioning. As a result of these orders there was a general hubbub in the Garden throughout all the rest of that night: lanterns and torches bobbing about and people scurrying to and fro in all directions. At four o’clock in the morning the stewards and stewardesses were summoned from their quarters and ordered to investigate all those servants of either sex who had been on night duty in the mansion.

When Grandmother Jia learned that Bao-yu was suffering from shock, she wanted to know why. The others were obliged to tell her.

‘I didn’t expect a thing like this to happen,’ she said. ‘It would be bad enough if the people who are supposed to be keeping us safe at night were merely being careless. What worries me is the thought that some of them may be criminals themselves!’

Lady Xing and You-shi had not long since arrived for their morning duty, and Li Wan, Xi-feng and the girls were also there in attendance. None of them dared say anything. In the end it was Tan-chun who, smiling, stepped forwards and broke the silence.

‘It’s because Cousin Feng hasn’t been very well during these last few months,’ she said. ‘The servants in the Garden have got much more careless than they used to be. At first it was only once in a while: three or four doing night duty on the same shift getting together for a little game of dice or cards to keep themselves awake. But gradually they became more reckless, until now there are regular little card-schools with their own bankers and forty or fifty strings of cash changing hands at a sitting. A fortnight ago it even reached a point where a fight broke out over the cards.’

‘If you knew this at the time, why didn’t you tell anyone?’ said Grandmother Jia with some asperity.

‘I didn’t tell Mother because I knew she was busy and not feeling very well,’ said Tan-chun. ‘I did tell sister-in-law though, and the stewardesses and the women were given several warnings. As a matter of fact, I think they have been a bit more careful since then.’

‘You’re only a child,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘You don’t know how serious this is. You think that gambling is a trifling matter and that the only thing to be feared from it is an occasional quarrel. But where there is gambling, there is probably drinking as well; and if there is drinking, probably gates are being left unlocked so that people can slip out to buy things; and when that happens, before you know where you are they will be letting thieves in – the easiest thing in the world when it is dark and there are so few people about. And then – Heaven help us! – with only you girls living there and the maids and women who wait on you – some of them no better than they should be, I dare say – anything could happen. There are things worse than burglary, the mere suspicion of which could have the direst consequences for all of you. No, this is not a matter to be dismissed so airily!’

After such a snub, Tan-chun could only sit down again in silence.

Xi-feng was still far from well and her usual ebullience was very much in abeyance, but she managed to summon up some energy when she saw how seriously the old lady was displeased. She made a point of observing how unfortunate it was that such things ‘had to happen’ when she was ill, then, sending for Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife and three of the other principal stewardesses, she subjected them to a thorough dressing-down in Grandmother Jia’s and everyone else’s presence. When Xi-feng had finished with them, Grandmother Jia ordered them to find out who the chief organizers were and all the others who had been taking part in the gambling. She empowered them to offer rewards for information and to punish those who withheld it.

Seeing Grandmother Jia so angry, the stewardesses dared not attempt to cover up for their own kinswomen and friends, of whom there were several among the older women of the watch. Going at once into the Garden, they summoned all the women together and proceeded to grill them, one by one, without distinction of persons. They met at first with a certain amount of resistance, but in the end, as will almost invariably happen when the questioning is sufficiently patient and persistent, the waters subsided and the rocks began to appear. By the time they had finished their interrogations it was established that there were three principal organizers, eight subsidiary ones, and a score or more gamblers who had availed themselves of their services. All of these were taken at once to Grandmother Jia’s place, and were soon to be observed kneeling down in rows in her courtyard, knocking their heads upon the pavement and begging for mercy.

Grandmother Jia began by asking for the names of the three principal organizers and the amounts of money in their ‘banks’. Of the three it turned out that one was a cousin on the mother’s side of Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife, one a younger sister of Cook Liu, and the other one Ying-chun’s nurse. The other eight organizers, who had operated on a smaller scale, were also named, but their identities need not concern us. Grandmother Jia ordered all the dice and playing-cards to be collected together and burnt. The money from the banks she ordered to be confiscated and divided up among the other servants. She sentenced the principal offenders to receive forty strokes of the heavy bamboo, to be dismissed, and never to be employed by the family again. The others were to receive twenty strokes, lose three months’ pay, and in future be employed in cleaning out the latrines. After passing these sentences, she formally reprimanded Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife for having permitted such things to happen.

Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife, let down by her own relation and twice rebuked in public, was not the only person present to feel humiliated. Ying-chun, sitting among the other cousins next to Grandmother Jia, felt equally humiliated when it was revealed that her own nurse was one of the principal offenders. Dai-yu, Bao-chai and Tan-chun felt sorry for her and rose to intercede for the old woman.

‘Couldn’t you, for Ying-chun’s sake, let her off this once?’ they pleaded. ‘She isn’t an habitual gambler. It’s just that once in a while she gets carried away.’

‘You none of you know what you are talking about,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘These old nannies are all the same. They think that because they suckled you when you were babies it entitles them to special treatment now. They’re worse trouble than all the other servants put together, because whenever they have done wrong they think they can always get you to cover up for them. I know. I have had a lot of experience of these people. I need to make an example of one of them, and this one will do very well. You leave this to me. I know what I am doing.’

The three girls were obliged to let the matter drop.

Soon it was time for the old lady’s siesta and all of those present withdrew. But because they knew she was angry, they did not all go back to their own apartments. Some of them waited around so as to be on hand when she had finished resting. You-shi called in at Xi-feng’s place to chat, but finding Xi-feng too much out of sorts for conversation, went into the Garden to talk to Li Wan and the girls. Lady Xing, too, after sitting for a while at Lady Wang’s place, went off to take a walk in the Garden. She had got no farther than the Garden gate, however, when one of the junior maids from Grandmother Jia’s apartment, a girl called Simple, almost bumped into her. The girl was walking along chuckling delightedly to herself, intent on some brightly coloured object. Because she was so intent on what she was holding, she had not seen Lady Xing coming towards her and only looked up and checked herself when she was almost upon her.

‘Well now, Simple,’ said Lady Xing, ‘you seem very pleased with yourself. What marvellous thing have you got there? Let me have a look.’

Simple, just turned fourteen, had only recently been selected to help with the rough work in Grandmother Jia’s apartment. She had a hefty body, a broad face and an enormous pair of feet. A willing and effective worker in the heavier sort of jobs requiring no intelligence, she was nevertheless so stupid as to be almost half-witted and as ignorant and innocent almost as the day she was born. Much of what she said was unintentionally amusing. Grandmother Jia was endlessly diverted by her and always allowed her mistakes to go unreproved. It was she who had given her the name ‘Simple’. When Simple had no work to do, she would often go into the Garden to play. On this occasion she had gone into the Garden to look for crickets behind the rocks of the artificial mountain just inside the gate, and in doing so, had come upon a beautifully embroidered purse. The design embroidered on it consisted not of the usual birds and flowers, but on one side of a pair of naked human figures locked together in an embrace and on the other of some writing. Simple was too innocent to understand what the naked couple were up to. After giving the matter some thought, she had decided that they must be either two demons fighting or two people wrestling, but could not make up her mind which of these was the correct interpretation. She was on her way, chuckling delightedly over her find, to ask Grandmother Jia’s opinion on the matter when she nearly ran into Lady Xing.

‘I think you’ve said the right word, Your Ladyship,’ said Simple. ‘It is a marvellous thing. You just look!’

Lady Xing took the proffered bag. She examined the picture on it with a start.

‘Where did you find this?’ she asked, seizing Simple roughly by the arm.

‘I found it behind the rocks,’ said Simple, ‘when I was looking for crickets.’

‘Don’t tell anyone else about this,’ said Lady Xing. ‘This is a bad thing, Simple. If you weren’t such a simpleton, they would give you a beating just for touching it. Don’t ever say a word about it to anyone else!’

Simple turned pale with fright.

‘No, no, I won’t.’

She made Lady Xing a kotow and went off, round-eyed, with her mouth gaping foolishly open.

Lady Xing looked around her. There were only maids in sight, and she obviously could not give the embroidered purse to one of them, so she stuffed it up her sleeve. She was very puzzled to think where it could have come from; but no trace of what she felt was allowed to show itself on her face as she made her way through the Garden towards Ying-chun’s apartment.

Ying-chun was still brooding disconsolately over her nurse’s guilt when her mother’s arrival was announced. She hurried out to welcome her. As soon as Lady Xing was seated and had been given tea, she began laying into her.

‘You’re not a child now. If you knew your nurse was doing this sort of thing, for Heaven’s sake why couldn’t you have spoken to her about it? Other people’s nurses don’t seem to get into trouble, why does it have to be yours? I don’t understand you!’

Ying-chun hung her head and fiddled with her sash. It was some time before she answered.

‘I did speak to her about it, on two occasions, but she wouldn’t listen to me. What could I do? She’s my nurse. she’s supposed to tell me what to do, not the other way round.’

‘Rubbish!’ said Lady Xing. ‘She’s entitled to tell you off if you’ve done something wrong, but in a case like this where she was the guilty one, it was up to you to behave towards her like a mistress. Then, if she still wouldn’t obey you, you ought to have come and told me. As it is, you have let things slide until everyone knows about it and all the rest of us are involved in the disgrace. I just don’t know what you think you are at. Incidentally, if she was banker to a card-school, she must have had to get money from somewhere to start it with. I shouldn’t be a bit surprised to find that she’d talked you into lending her clothes or jewellery that she could pawn in order to raise her capital. You’re such a soft, flabby creature, you’d be just as likely as not to lend them to her. Well all I can say is, if she has and you don’t get them back from her, it’s no good coming to me for the money, for I’ve none to give you; so what you will do when festival time comes and you need your things I can’t imagine.’

Ying-chun continued to hang her head and say nothing. Lady Xing found her unresponsiveness provoking.

‘Your mother was one of Sir She’s chamber-wives,’ she said, ‘and your Cousin Tan’s mother was a chamber-wife as well, so you and she had the same sort of start in life. As a matter of fact your mother was ten times better than that Zhao woman, so you ought by rights to be better than your Cousin Tan. But you’re not. You’re not her equal in any single respect. I don’t know, I’d have been better off without any children at all. Those I have only make me look ridiculous.’

‘Mrs Lian is here,’ one of the servants announced.

‘Huh!’ said Lady Xing scornfully; and then again, ‘Huh!’

‘Tell her to go back home and take care of her illness,’ she said to the waiting servant. ‘Tell her I have no need of her services.’

As that servant went out, another one, who had been sent to Grandmother Jia’s place to act as a look-out, came in to report that the old lady was now awake. Lady Xing got up to go. Ying-chun saw her out as far as the courtyard gate.

‘There you are!’ said Tangerine when Ying-chun got back. ‘When I told you the other day that that pearl-and-gold phoenix had disappeared, you wouldn’t even ask about it. I told you that Nannie had probably nicked it to pawn, but you wouldn’t believe me. You said, “I expect Chess is looking after it.” Well, I asked Chess, because although she is ill, she is still perfectly clear in her mind, and she said, “No, I haven’t touched it. It ought still to be in the casket on the bookshelf, ready for wearing at the Mid-Autumn festival.” Now why don’t you send someone to Nannie right away and ask her what she’s done with it?’

‘There’s no need to ask,’ said Ying-chun. ‘It’s perfectly obvious that she took it because she was temporarily out of cash and needed the money from it to tide her over. She quietly removed it when no one was looking, and I assumed that after a few days had gone by, when she was in funds again, she would redeem it and quietly slip it back again. I expect she forgot. In any case, there’s not much point in asking her after what has happened today.’

‘She never forgot!’ said Tangerine. ‘She knew from past experience that you’d never do anything, that’s why she didn’t put it back. I think I know what to do, though. I’ll go and tell Mrs Lian about it, and either she’ll ask Nannie about it herself, or better still, she’ll send someone with a few strings of cash round to the pawnshop and get it back for you straight away.’

‘You’ll do no such thing!’ said Ying-chun. ‘Much better leave well alone. I’d rather do without the thing than stir up a lot more trouble.’

‘Why are you so feeble?’ said Tangerine exasperatedly. ‘All this “saving trouble”! One of these days they’ll carry you off with the loot! I’m going, anyway.’

She began to do so. Ying-chun said nothing and made no attempt to prevent her. Unknown to them both, however, Zhu-er’s wife – the daughter-in-law of the old nurse they were talking about – had all this time been listening outside the door. She had come intending to ask Ying-chun to put in a plea for her mother-in-law, but held back when she heard Ying-chun and Tangerine discussing the pearl-and-gold phoenix.

Because Ying-chun was so weak and unassertive, Zhu-er’s wife would not normally have regarded the discovery by her of one of her mother-in-law’s depredations as a matter of very much consequence; but when she heard Tangerine insisting that Xi-feng should be informed, she could see that unless something were done to prevent this, the consequences could be very serious indeed. At this point, therefore, she hurried in to try and stop her.

‘Now, now, Miss Tangerine,’ she said, smiling rather unnaturally, ‘don’t go making trouble! Our old missus was a bit silly about that pearl-and-gold phoenix, I will admit. She’d lost a bit at the cards and couldn’t recoup, so she took it as a loan. Naturally she never expected that all this trouble would break out before she’d had a chance to put it back. But be that as it may, it’s the mistress’s property, and we’ve no intention of forgetting about it. Sooner or later we fully intend to redeem it for her. I’d hardly be here now if we didn’t, would I? I’ve come to ask the mistress, for the sake of the milk she sucked from her as a baby, to go to Her Old Ladyship and plead with her for our old missus.’

‘My dear good woman,’ said Ying-chun, ‘if that is what you are hoping for, then the sooner you disabuse yourself of that hope the better. I am not going to plead for your mother-in-law. You can wait from now until this time next year if you like, but I will still not do it. Miss Bao and Miss Lin and the others have tried already and Her Old Ladyship refused to listen to them. She’s even less likely to listen to me on my own. I have already put up with enough humiliation for one day; I have no intention of going to look for more.’

‘Whether or not you return that phoenix is one thing and whether or not the mistress goes to plead for your mother-in-law is another,’ said Tangerine. ‘Don’t try to confuse the issue. I hope you’re not suggesting that if the mistress doesn’t do what you ask for your mother-in-law, you won’t redeem the phoenix? I think you ought to redeem the phoenix first and start talking about that other matter after you have brought it back.’

Ying-chun’s refusal and Tangerine’s sharp rebuke put Zhu-er’s wife out of countenance and left her momentarily at a loss for words, but she quickly found her tongue again and, as if openly contemptuous of Ying-chun’s easy-going nature, began taking noisy issue with Tangerine in her mistress’s presence.

‘Don’t be so high and mighty, Miss Tangerine! If you look around at the other apartments in this household, you’ll find that there isn’t a single one in which the nannies don’t take some advantage of their position to get a few perks. I don’t see why only in our case you should be so pernickety. If you are a bit light-fingered, of course, that’s another matter! Ever since Miss Xing came to live with us, Lady Xing has insisted on a tae! a month being stopped out of her allowance to help pay for her mother. That means that though we now have two mistresses here in the place of one – with all the extra expenses that that entails – we are having to manage on less money a month instead of more. It’s hardly surprising that the mistresses are always running short. And when they do, who is it that steps in and pays? We do. One way and another, we must have paid out at least thirty taels by now, and from what I can see, it was money down the drain.’

‘Thirty taels?’ said Tangerine indignantly. ‘How do you make that out? Just tell me one or two of the things the mistress is supposed to have asked you for.’

Ying-chun had been made uneasy by the open reference to her mother’s meanness.

‘Now that’s enough!’ she told the woman. ‘If you can’t give the phoenix back, you can’t. There’s no need to go dragging all these other matters into it and shouting them around for everyone else to hear. I don’t want the thing, anyway. If Mother asks me about it, I shall tell her I’ve lost it. At least you won’t have anything to worry about, so you might just as well go away and rest. What’s the point of making all this fuss?’

She told Tangerine to pour her some tea. Tangerine was both angry and alarmed.

‘It’s all very well for you to take that way out, miss, but what about us? Not content with depriving you of your gold phoenix, this woman is now pretending that you’ve been spending their money and proposing to write off the phoenix to offset what they’re supposed to have given you. If Lady Xing hears that and asks how you came to be spending so much, it’s we servants who will take the blame. It isn’t fair!.’

She burst into tears. Chess, who, as she lay ill in bed, had been listening with growing impatience to what the others were saying, could now contain herself no longer. Getting out of bed, she dragged herself over to take Tangerine’s part in the argument. Ying-chun, finding that her single attempt at ending it had failed, picked up a volume of Tai-shang’s Heavenly Rewards and Punishments and began to read.

While Zhu-er’s wife and the two maids were still at it hammer and tongs, Bao-chai, Dai-yu, Bao-qin and Tan-chun arrived. Concerned that Ying-chun might still be feeling distressed about her nurse, they had met together by prearrangement and come over to try and cheer her up. Sounds of the wrangling going on inside were distinctly audible as they entered her courtyard. Tan-chun walked over and, peeping through the window, saw Ying-chun half-reclining on the day-bed reading a book, oblivious to the noisy argument that was going on only a few feet away from her. She laughed. Just at that moment two junior maids raised the portière for the visitors and announced their arrival.

At once Ying-chun put her book down and rose to welcome them. The sight of these newcomers – particularly as Tan-chun was one of them – caused the woman to stop of her own accord and she took the opportunity of slipping quietly outside.

‘Who was that talking in here just now?’ said Tan-chun as she took a seat. ‘It sounded as if someone was having an argument.’

‘Oh, nothing,’ said Ying-chun, pleasantly. ‘Probably only the servants making their usual fuss about nothing. Certainly not anything worth inquiring about.’

‘I’m sure I heard something about a “golden phoenix” just now,’ said Tan-chun. ‘I distinctly heard someone say, “When she’s short of money, she always asks us servants for some.” When Who’s short of money? Not you, Ying, surely? You don’t ask the servants for money, do you?’

‘You’re absolutely right, miss, she most certainly does not,’ said Chess and Tangerine indignantly.

Tan-chun smiled.

‘Well, Ying, if it wasn’t you the woman I heard was talking about, perhaps it was me? You’d better call her inside again and let me ask her.’

‘Now you’re being ridiculous,’ said Ying-chun, laughing. ‘Why be like this? It has absolutely nothing to do with you.’

‘There you are wrong,’ said Tan-chun. ‘You and I are in the same boat. Our circumstances are very similar. What she says affects me as much as it does you. It would be just the same if you were to hear someone at my place complaining about me. You would feel almost as though you were being criticized yourself. As mistresses, you and I are above talking to servants about the petty cash. We may ask them for things sometimes, as and when we require them, but that is another matter. Tell me, though: how did a “pearl-and-gold phoenix” come to be mixed up in this discussion?’

Zhu-er’s wife, terrified lest Tangerine should seize this opportunity to denounce her, came rushing in at this point and tried to put Tan-chun off the scent with her own extremely garbled account of what had happened. But Tan-chun showed that she had a better understanding of the case than the woman supposed.

‘I think you are being very stupid,’ she said smilingly. ‘What you ought to do, now that your mother-in-law has already got herself into trouble, is to go to Mrs Lian before the money confiscated has been divided up and ask if you can have some of it back to redeem this jewellery with. Ideally, of course, it would have been better if you could have redeemed it before all this trouble broke out and saved yourselves a bit of face. But now that you have no face left to save, you’d much better make a clean breast of it and get the money. After all, your mother-in-law has already been found guilty. However many crimes she’s committed, they can only cut her head off once. You take my advice. Go round to Mrs Lian’s place as soon as possible and make a clean breast of it. Standing around here shouting is not going to get you anywhere!’

The woman was forced to admit that Tan-chun’s reading of the situation was correct. But she was too scared to go to Xi-feng and confess.

‘If I hadn’t heard you talking about this, it would have been none of my business,’ said Tan-chun. ‘But now that I have heard, I think you had better let me take over and do the explaining for you.’

Unknown to the others, Tan-chun had tipped Scribe the wink a minute or two previously and Scribe had slipped outside to summon help. It was no surprise to Tan-chun, therefore, that Patience should have walked in just as she was saying this; but to the others her appearance at that moment was little short of miraculous. Bao-qin clapped her hands delightedly.

‘I always knew Cousin Tan was a witch. Now here comes her familiar spirit!’

‘It’s not witchcraft, it’s generalship,’ said Dai-yu. ‘Don’t you remember what it says in The Art of War?

A shy maiden in defence, but swift as a hare in the attack.

In good generalship surprise is of the essence.’

A look from Bao-chai caused the two girls to drop their bantering and talk of something else while Tan-chun addressed herself to the new arrival.

‘Is your mistress any better yet?’ she asked Patience. ‘She seems to have completely lost her grip on things since she had this illness. It’s very unfortunate for people like me who have to put up with the consequences.’

‘Oh?’ said Patience in some surprise. ‘Has someone been giving you trouble, miss? If you will let me know what I can do, I am at your disposal.’

Zhu-er’s wife was now in a panic. She bounded up to Patience and was all over her before Tan-chun could get a word in.

‘Sit down while I tell you, Miss Patience. I can explain it all.’

Patience gave her a long, hard look.

‘Miss Tan and I are talking. What right have you to come butting in like this? If you had any manners at all, you wouldn’t even be in this room, you’d be waiting respectfully outside. Whoever heard of an outside servant going into one of the young mistresses’ apartments without being asked?’

‘Manners?’ said Tangerine. ‘You won’t find many around here. People barge in and out of this apartment as they please.’

‘It’s your fault then if they do,’ said Patience sharply. ‘If Miss Ying is too gentle to do so, you ought to throw them out yourselves and then go and report them to Her Ladyship.’

Zhu-er’s wife reddened at Patience’s rebuke and took herself outside.

‘Now I can answer your question,’ Tan-chun said to Patience. ‘This is not actually my affair. If it were, perhaps I shouldn’t have minded quite so much. What happened is that this woman’s mother-in-law, trading on the fact that she used to be Miss Ying’s wet-nurse when she was a baby and taking advantage of Miss Ying’s easy-going nature, took some of her jewellery without telling her in order to raise money for her gambling. As if that wasn’t enough, this woman had the gall to pretend that Miss Ying owed them money in order that she could blackmail her into interceding for her mother-in-law. I found her and these two maids shouting at each other in Miss Ying’s bedroom while Miss Ying sat by helpless. Now that you are here, I should like to ask you this question. Is this woman really so thick-witted that she doesn’t know any better, or has someone else put her up to this? I mean, is there some plan to undermine Miss Ying first and then, when she is safely out of the way, to get to work on me and on Miss Xi?’

‘Oh miss!’ said Patience, endeavouring to treat the question as a joke, ‘how could you? Mrs Lian is not as bad as that!’

‘I’m sure I don’t know,’ said Tan-chun coldly. ‘You know the saying: “Like grieves for like; for when the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold.” When I saw what was happening to Miss Ying, I couldn’t help feeling nervous.’

Patience turned to Ying-chun questioningly.

‘It would be easy enough to deal with this matter if it weren’t that this woman is the wife of your foster-brother. It’s really up to you, miss.’

Ying-chun had all this time been sitting shoulder to shoulder with Bao-chai, reading one of the stories in Rewards and Punishments. She had not even heard what Tan-chun had been saying and had only the haziest idea what was required of her when she suddenly found herself being addressed. She smiled back, however, and did her best to oblige.

‘Don’t ask me!’ she said. ‘There’s absolutely nothing that I can do about it. If they will go getting themselves into trouble, they must face the consequences. All I can say is that I can’t do anything to get their punishment reduced and I won’t do anything to increase it. As for that object they took from me without telling me, if they do bring it back I shall be happy to receive it; if they don’t bring it back I shall not ask them for it. If either of Their Ladyships should ask me about it, I shall keep the facts hidden from them if I can do so honourably, in which case these people may consider themselves lucky; but if I can’t, I shall just have to tell them the truth. It is quite out of the question that I should deliberately deceive Their Ladyships in order to cover up for them. You say I am too easy-going and indecisive: if you know of a better way of dealing with this matter that is both fool-proof and will not upset Their Ladyships, by all means go ahead with it; I shall certainly not interfere.’

The others were much amused by this answer.

‘Ying-chun makes me think of that monk who went on discussing theological matters while wolves and tigers prowled outside in his courtyard,’ said Dai-yu laughing. ‘How on earth would she have controlled a great household like ours if she had been a man?’

‘That’s begging the question,’ said Ying-chun, smiling. ‘There are plenty of men who live off the fat of the land but who, in a crisis, are no better at dealing with things than I. Anyway, Tai-shang says that of all works of merit helping people when they are in trouble is the greatest. I may not be able to help anyone, but at least I am not going out of my way to make things worse for them. What is the point of gratuitously making enemies or exerting oneself for ends from which no one will benefit?’

Before she had finished, another visitor was heard arriving in the courtyard. Who this was will be revealed in the following chapter.